32 Thoughts: The Podcast - Tying up Some Deadline Loose Ends

Episode Date: March 10, 2025

In this edition of 32 Thoughts, Kyle Bukauskas and Elliotte Friedman unpack what happened between Mitch Marner, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Carolina Hurricanes plus Elliotte ties a bow on the Mikko Rantanen saga (14:27). The fellas then turn their attention the Ottawa Senators and the narrative that has now surrounded the team (19:28). They then delve into the Brad Marchand exit in Boston (25:48) and discuss how well the Oilers handled the Dallas Stars (32:45). Elliotte talks about what interest there was in Brock Boeser at the trade deadline (36:32) and Kyle and Elliotte react to Lou Lamoriello's comments following the Brock Nelson trade (38:38). The Final Thought focuses on whether Marchand is heading to the Hockey Hall of Fame once his career is done (42:29). Kyle and Elliotte answer your questions and respond to your voicemails in the Thought Line (46:03).In the final segment Kyle and Elliotte touch on Connor Ingram stepping away from the game to focus on his health. They also highlight Alex Oveckin's 1,600th NHL point (1:02:03).Email the podcast at [e-mail] or call the Thought Line at 1-833-311-3232 and leave us a voicemail.This podcast was produced and mixed by Dominic Sramaty and hosted by Elliotte Friedman & Kyle Bukauskas.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Sports & Media or any affiliates

Along the Dasher, Gunn goes round and round. Wilson looking to elevate for Ovechkin. There's an empty net waiting. Alex on the backhand! Point number 1600 for the grade 8 is an empty net clincher. Welcome to 32 Thoughts, the podcast presented by the GMC Sierra AT4X. Tom Schamade, Elliot Friedman, Kyle Bukosk is with you once again. We have reached the end of the weekend following the trade deadline and at this point Elliott is practically in a weekend at Bernie's State. He's got the sunglasses on, we've got the rope pulling on his hand making him wave to everybody but are you still anything more than a corpse at this point? I had a good night's sleep Saturday night when I finally got home and I had a good nap on Sunday afternoon, woke up just before we began recording this podcast.

So the weekend at Bernie's Field has kind of gone. I love when the clock moves forward because it's always great to have sunlight at times like 5 Eastern when we're taping this podcast but when it first shows up in your face and you lose that hour of sleep it sucks I made up for it in the afternoon by the way Kyle when Ron said it was daylight savings time beginning turning the clocks forward I had no idea I had no idea I was like forward, I had no idea. I had no idea. I was like, it is? I had no idea. That's right. You guys were funny in the pre-game show and you were lying about how I would rather be with you than at home with my wife and it's funny we were watching it back on the PVR and so

she's sitting on the couch seeing that and she's like, no he doesn't. Because you had also said she's not gonna see this butt and she did. So that was. I figured Dana was too smart to watch that garbage. No, she sings along with the S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y theme song by Shawnee Kish and everything. She's locked in.

Oh, we need a recording of this. I blew me away, cause of course, I'm usually at a rink somewhere, I never see it, but she knew the words. Oh we need Dana. We need a recording. We could make that the new Saturday night open theme. Oh gosh. Don't do that Okay. All right. Let's get to it here because you know you had a couple of whoppers Of course in the lead-up to Deadline on Deadline Day And then the big one in the aftermath of it all on Saturday was that the Carolina Hurricanes as they were fielding offers for Miko Renton and in

the days leading up we know that Toronto had engaged they had offered Minton and Cowan a couple of firsts but Carolina wanted Mitch Marner as you could well imagine who wouldn't want a player like Mitch Marner? To the point where the team had gone to the player, asked if he would waive his no-move. Mitch, as we learned, did not and he remains with the Maple Leafs here. Gonna be a UFA in the summer as it stands right now, Elliot. He was asked about it post-game on Saturday in Denver. Brad Treleving did kind of an impromptu thing to get ahead of things when they were practicing in Utah on Sunday. Can you provide any more color to how that all came about and just the reaction to both sides as it became public?

I know I'm in the minority here but am I the only person who thinks this doesn't have to be a big deal and ruin either Toronto or the Maple Leafs? Am I the only one in the world, Kyle, who thinks this doesn't need to be a big deal and ruin the Maple Leafs or Marner's season? Yeah, well, you would be in the minority. You would be in the minority. Now the key is that Carolina asked for him. It wasn't Toronto offering him up to say, if we can get him to wave, we'll give you Mitch Marner.

That's a key difference there. I'm buying that totally. But these are hockey fans we're dealing with in Toronto, no less. Yeah, that's my city. We aren't always the most rational people. Look, I would say this, and I said this on Saturday night, and I will reiterate it here. I think everybody handled themselves in a very professional manner. First of all, I do not blame the hurricanes

for asking for Marner. You know they're doing basically the same thing that Toronto is doing. Toronto is inquiring about Rantanen because he's a great player and his future is uncertain. And he's a star, right? So if Carolina is going to trade Rantanen to Toronto, if, why wouldn't they ask for a star unsigned player whose future is uncertain why wouldn't you do that I don't like I don't think anybody doesn't get that I don't think anybody shouldn't be able to get that it's obvious it's an obvious ask and I think if you're the Toronto Maple Leafs you

have to ask him. Like you're sitting here saying we can get Miko Rantanen, you know we have to ask him. It's dire eliction of duty if you don't ask him. You're not doing your job if you don't ask him and so they said to him from what I heard, look we're coming to you with the preface that we want to keep you but we've been offered this and we have to bring it up. And Marner said no, as is his right. And I think there's two things that

happened on Saturday night from Marner that really said to me, he's handling this in the proper way. Number one, he came out and he scored two goals really quickly. When he came out of the four nations, he talked about how the one thing he learned was, always be positive. No matter what happens, be positive. Believe that you're going to make it work. That's Crosby. That's the Crosby influence. Don't lose your mind. Calm down. We're going to find a way. And they lost and I lost and you know, I'll tell you this, like Colorado looked phenomenal.

Blackwood had a bit of a rough night, but they looked fast, they looked energized, they are going to be a load to contain. And yeah, and it was, and people who were there told me it was one of the fastest games They'd ever seen but Marner comes out and he scores twice like if he was affected and I'm sure mentally he was affected He left it in the room He went out in the ice and he played and I thought that was a really good sign really mature on his part

And then Kyle I watched the scrum postgame and he was emotional It was it was hard for him But he didn't run away. He didn't duck he answered the questions He like he didn't hide he didn't hide on the ice and he didn't hide off the ice And eventually it came to an end because there's only so many times you can say the same thing But he didn't duck it he didn't deny it he basically admitted it with coming out and saying or saying it and he was very emotional about it which is totally fine like he handled himself like a pro and that's why now I know we've got to talk about this and I'm sure there I'm sure the Maple Leafs aren't happy it got out and I'm sure Marner's camp isn't happy it got out but it's out

there's nothing you can do about it you just have to move on and play your game and I'd say the number one thing that happened was that Marner played his game he answered the questions and he played his game and if he does that Then we're gonna move on from this now I had some people say to this You know, do you think that hurts the relationship between Marner and Toronto? I can't say that one way or the other I think everybody especially you look at the last year Stamco's Tampa Marchand Boston not all of these situations are the same Marner is younger than those guys But in the NHL people have to make hard decisions. That's a fact of the business and

like I I would look at it as I think it's an indication of where Toronto feels it is. It's the uncertainty. We don't know what he's going to do. We don't have him signed. There's like a season on the line. There's probably jobs on the line eventually because of this decision. And we're being offered a great player.

Like you have to ask and like if it was me, I'd be like, okay, this happened this got out. We've addressed it. Now we got to play. That's the way I would look at it, but it's Toronto. So it's noisy. I just wanted to say I thought considering how big it was everybody handled it really professionally

Yeah, and that's all fair. Can I play devil's advocate here? Absolutely you can for sure. So I just wonder then if the organization Views long term that Mitch Marner is a part of it. Why would they go? Ask him like I I know you love to use the relationship comparables for argument's sake. It's like you're with a lady and you're like, this person is wonderful. I'm going to marry this person. And then you go, hey, would you consider breaking up for a little bit? Because actually there's this other girl here that I'm quite interested in suddenly. You don't do that.

So- Well, I have to say this is a bit of a window into your existence, which I'm kind of enjoying here, Kyle. I'm just trying to, I'm trying to, someday I'll get you on, I'm just, someday I'll get you on my psychiatrist couch and find out what exactly you're referring to here. But the thing is they don't have the commitment, right? So I would, I would say it's not quite like that because in this particular case you've asked for the hand in marriage and you don't have it yet. Like there's uncertainty. Like your partner is not committed to you. That's what this is. Like obviously if Mitch Marner's name was on a contract extension there would be, I don't think this would have come up.

I don't believe this would have been a thing. I think it's only a thing because in that moment, you are given another path to some certainty that if you don't have Marner, you have Rand. I got you. I got you. Okay. And then I look at, you know, what Brad to Living said on Sunday, and it seemed like it was kind of an impromptu thing. He wasn't interested in fielding a bunch of questions, but kind of wanted to get ahead of things, saying we're aligned with Mitch. We're just worried about this season. Not going to be a distraction, because it's not a distraction. We're not answering every question every day about it. We've dealt with it here over the weekend. He says, quote, I support Mitch a thousand percent. So is that now in the aftermath? As you say, saw how emotional he was over the weekend. He's handled everything incredibly well, given the circumstances, but now the

organization supporting their player, regardless of what's going to come a few months down the road. Well, you have to move on. This is a big season in Toronto. Oh yeah. So you have to put the focus back on hockey. And you know what you can say, because Tree Living came out and did it, you can say, we talked about it, we're not going to talk about it anymore. See, I think the problem here is not that this whole thing happened. It's that it got out.

Of course, of course. You know, it's interesting because it's made me think of this today. Someone was telling me actually it's Dan Slater. He was our camera operator here in Ottawa. So he went to the elimination chamber pay-per-view in Toronto a couple weeks back with his kids. They had a great time. But he said The Rock, because now they do like those post-event press conferences. Yes. Is that the one where John Cena turned on Cody Rhodes? Is that the Elimination Chamber?

Yes. And that like broke the WWE Unifers, right? Like Cena, it's his last year, he's been babyface his entire career, and he turns on Cody Rhodes and goes heel, goes corporate with The Rock at the end of that show, and everyone was losing their minds. And The Rock was saying afterwards that he thought about, remember WrestleMania 18 when it was The Rock and Hogan at Sky Dome,

and that was like, that match was remembered for like the heel and face connotations switched mid match, right? Like Hogan was the heel going in, Rock was the face and like the crowd, their interpretation of the two like swapped during the match. So like Hogan became the hero while the match was going on and the crowd kind of turned from one to the other. And the Rock said that stuck with them. And so as they were figuring out this storyline,

it kind of had in their back pocket for months, they were like, I remember when that happened in Toronto back in 2002. And he's like, there's something about this city that just has an appetite for the wild storylines and how things can change. They eat that stuff up, and so that was a big reason why they did it in Toronto, because that crowd

has the ability to react to those sorts of things in a way that not a lot of other cities and markets, even in wrestling, do too. So as I was watching all of this unfold. Is The Rock calling us a bunch of savages? Is that what he's calling us? Pretty much, there's something about much. There's something about it. There's something about it.

But I know this isn't quite the same thing, but I just thought, you know, the emotional aspect of it all is the reaction to it. That becoming public, it checks out with what The Rock feels too about that city. Yes, and I'm gonna say this. I'm not as much into wrestling as I used to be, but I saw

people saying that Cena turning on Rhodes is the biggest heel turn of all time I am sorry but nothing nothing will ever be bigger than Hulk Hogan going NWO that is the biggest heel turn of all time and nothing will ever beat it. A lot of people would agree with you there. Okay, I promise after this, we are making this podcast a ranting free zone. It's been too much ranting in, but he did an interview with Scott Oak on Saturday night before his first game with Dallas against Edmonton. And I thought there was a really good answer there that everyone should hear because I tried to figure out how this process unfolded through his eyes and

first of all it was a good night for Carolina on Sunday they won they beat the Red Hot Jets Stankhoven got his first goal for them. So that was big for the Hurricanes and their fans to see that. But as I said on Friday, I really believe with 2020 hindsight, the Hurricanes never had a chance to get this done. Rantanen was just in shock and it blew up any chance they had of getting him signed. And so what I'm going gonna do first is let you hear one of the questions from Scott and the answer from Rantanen and then go into how I think the whole thing unfolded for him. So first of all here is Scott Oak and

Miko Rantanen. When Colorado traded you to Carolina in January it was a blockbuster deal and the hurricanes Obviously thought they could resign you when did you decide you were moving on from Carolina? I think it was last week, you know, I just you know, obviously it was a shock and and you know Didn't want it to happen, you know at that time and and Then I just had to look at all the options, you know, I just, you know, obviously gotta thank Carolina for, you know, the time I was there, you know, the guys were great and the team is really good. But, you know, it's just, you know, I had to look at, look at, look at it from all the angles. And this was my decision. To me, that's it right there. That is Rantnan in his own words about how he was feeling.

And I think this is how it went down from his POV. It's been reported by many people that he was looking for between 13 and 14 from the Avalanche. I think that's true. I think right before he got traded the number was right at 13 I've reported that the avalanche final offer or the where they were was are in around eleven point seven five The avalanche have said that they were willing to make him the highest paid winger in the NHL The current number is Panarin eleven point six64 plus so it's right around there basically what that means that at the time and Rantan and the Avalanche were over a million apart

It's a big number. It's it's a big gap, and I think you can bridge some things, but that's really hard now Rantan has referenced That there was a conversation with the Avalanche right before he was traded. And I believe in that meeting, he indicated that he was flexible in his numbers. And we also know that Colorado was nervous about McKinnon at 12-6, McCarr at whatever enormous number he's about to get, and he deserves every penny of it, and Rantinen in that area.

Colorado was definitely concerned about that. Also, we also know the Avalanche were extremely nervous about allowing this to go on past the deadline unsigned, that the hammer would swing all the way over to Rantanen and they were not comfortable with that. So it's clear for me from that interview, Rantanen is thinking, okay, I know we're apart, but I'm ready to be flexible. He is clearly not aware of how the avalanche are thinking. We're not letting this go past the line.

Uh, he clearly thought he would never get traded. He clearly hoped it would work out and he didn't realize what was going on in the Colorado brain trust. And Carolina calls for permission. And I think in his mind,'s like nope I'm only thinking about Colorado and I'm going to find a way to work this out and become a member and stay a lifelong member of the Colorado Avalanche which obviously doesn't happen. It's similar to Brad Marchand. It's not exactly the same

situation but I think it's exactly similar to the mindset Marchand had and it just shows that teams will get to align But they won't go past that line Boston wouldn't and Colorado wouldn't and it took Ranton in time to wrap his head Around what happened and I think everybody understands that I just think again with 2020 hindsight It was going to be impossible for Carolina. By the way, did you see Norris walking into the Buffalo game on Saturday in Florida? You could tell. I know you want to talk about Ottawa a little bit here and we can do that here if you want.

Some of the narrative around that team, like if people don't think, like Morris is an American guy, Kachaka is an American guy. If people don't think that those guys really like playing with each other and are really committed to each other, like just watching the look on Norris's face as he walked into the arena and he'll be fine. Like he'll figure it out. It's just jarring, but that was the picture of a guy who was sad to leave Ottawa. Like sometimes I just can't believe the things that I read and hear. And you know, if anyone, if anyone doubts the commitment of these guys to the Santers and to each other when they're there, like just look at Norris's face as he's walking into that game in Florida.

Yes, like the total look of like, how on earth did I end up here? And as you say, like, as time goes on, and perhaps they finally figure it out in Buffalo, you have an opportunity to be a part of a really good scene there when things are going well, as you know, Elliot, as well as anybody going to games they're growing up. But so that was one thing. And I just thought, too, going back to Brady Kachuck and how emotionally was on Friday, Elliot, talking about Josh Norris being traded and you know lost in some of his

early comments about how tough it all was he said towards the end of it he goes like I feel bad that this is my initial reaction because we've got two players coming here that can help us that are gonna be part of things that we want to have here and are happy to have here so you have both ends of the coin there and then not even 24 hours later he goes out in an afternoon game against a team they're up against in the playoff race in the Rangers. They are down two goals in the third period. He scores early in the game, they tie it, and then he scores the winner in overtime.

And you know you saw the interview there on the ice with Clare Hannah after the fact and the crowd. Apparently someone said there like you know TV as it often does it doesn't quite totally do it justice for how loud it is in the building but the fans chanting his name, screaming his name and the emotions that came out of him there yelling let's go and just being caught up in it all. Like you see those three phases in less than a day the emotional states of the Ottawa captain. And if there's anyone else out there, similar to the point you were making earlier, Elliot,

that wonder or question if he is not the right guy or if he is committed seriously to the Ottawa market and if the whole Norris trade is gonna mean he's gonna want out too. That all tells you right there that there is not a slightest chance in the world that any of that is factual there. The guy wants to win. It's only going to matter how good the team is. We said it on Friday. I'll say it again. And he's in a position, the whole team is right now, where they can get into the playoffs. They got themselves into the top eight right now and another big game Monday against Detroit.

It's the opportunity is there and it was a bit of an interesting shockwave I think through that room of going, yeah you're comfortable with all the guys you've grown up here with but there's also been I'm sure a reason why it's taken a number of years to finally have a legitimate chance at making the playoffs and a big reason why I'm sure the trade was made then. I'm sorry Kyle I just lost you there for a sec because I'm composing my letter to the editor of the Ottawa newspaper that Kachak not properly answering Claire Hannah's question and instead playing to the crowd is bad leadership I just want you

I'm working on that right now well that's who to whoever it may concern Brady Kachuck I'm a teacher in a local Ottawa area school Brady Kachuck did not properly answer the question now what am I going to do if my children follow Brady Kachuk's lead and do not properly answer my questions? Bad grammar. Bad grammar. We can't have it here. A captain cannot have bad grammar.

No. Or not properly focus on the question. Right. Right. That's the other thing too. We cannot, you know, some person, one person submits a letter to the editor and it gains traction. Don't for a second think that that speaks for the entire fan base or even anywhere close

to a near majority. No, it never does. It was just, when I saw that I was kind of laughing pretty hard. Look, I always go back to Patrick Kane. Patrick Kane's first NHL coach, Denis Savard. Denis Savard gets fired. Kane was tearful. He was very emotional.

He was cried. He was very upset. Does that mean he doesn't play for his next coach, Joel Quenville? No, he went out and won three Stanley Cups. That's the way it goes. There's always shock. There's always disappointment,

especially the first time it happens. Especially the first time it happens. But then you pick yourself up, you move on, you compete as hard as you can, because that's who you are and that's your pride. And that's it. That's it. That Ottawa-Detroit game on Monday is going to be a great game. That's a huge game. Detroit's leaking oil all of a sudden. And Ottawa has been kind of the team that's run Detroit out of the playoffs a couple of times right so you know that you got to think the Redwings pride for that and the Redwings memory for that is going to come up.

Alright speaking of shock Elliot, the Brad Marshandil to Florida and you pointed out on Saturday like the Katie Engelson tweet, seeing the picture of his name in the locker stall down in Florida. Like, it's one of those where you see and think, there's no way that's actually real, is it? Am I still asleep? Yes. Yes.

But it is. It's still, it's very, very real. And then on headlines with Ron, Saturday Night, Elliot, you had a little more to that story and how it eventually reached an end between the Bruins captain and the organization and the face-to-face meeting that Marshann requested with members of the organization. So what all happened? So first of all I'm gonna mention that you and I are gonna have another Marshann conversation later in this pod that came up from one of the things we mentioned there. I want to keep every make everybody aware of that. Okay so a couple things I've heard out of

this like obviously there's a lot of things flowing around and you're trying to be accurate but there's a lot of information out there. Again I believe in everything I report on Saturday night. Number one, I'll say this, Don Sweeney, you could tell he was emotional on Friday. It had been, obviously when you take a look at everything that Boston did last week, he put in a lot of hours. So number one, he messed up a bit with the exact conditions

of the first rounder slash second rounder that came back from Florida. Like that happens, it happened. Everybody corrected it later. The Bruins put out a release specifically saying what it was. And also too, I think he also misspoke. He said there was a gap in terms in AAV.

I also think that was slightly incorrect. Cause I do think at the end of the day, the Bruins and Marchand and his representatives had agreed on a three-year deal. That was agreed to. That was going to happen. I will say those are mistakes of exhaustion on Swinney's part. I don't think there was any attempt to make anyone look bad here. I think he was simply whipped.

But the other thing I do believe at the end and nobody has disputed this to me, I do not believe the Bruins were offering a pay cut. His current AAV is 6.125. I don't like I'm certain that the offer was not below that now was I don't how much more than that was I don't know but I am certain the offer was not below that Marchand was not being asked to take a pay cut however there was a gap there was a sizable gap and you know, I'll say this like nobody out there would confirm to me what the gap was But I think that the Bruins reached the line. It's it's it's the same thing It's it's kind of the same thing as the lightning was Stamco's They reached a line and they said this is as far as we're going to go and I think Marchand simply

I think there's two things here. I think Marchand simply I think there's two things here I think Marchand felt that you know it was below what he was willing to accept and you know I had some people tell me that you know based on the way they think Marchand will play especially if he's healthy enough for the playoffs it's something he could get in the open market. Now, I think ultimately he probably would have taken a little bit less to stay in Boston, but not where the Bruins were. And so that's kind of where we were as this approached. And like I said, I heard that he reached out and asked for an in-person meeting and it was granted.

Again, I don't know when it was, I don't know who was there. And so I'm not gonna guess, but I have it on a good authority from a lot of places that he offered a compromise. He said, look, I'll compromise a bit, I'll bend a bit, you guys bend a bit, and let's get this done. And I think he really thought that was gonna work. He

wanted to stay as you know at Four Nations he made that decision that he made it very clear that he wanted to stay and I really think that he believed that going in in person it was gonna work and it didn't you know the Bruins had just decided they were going as far as they were gonna go and I thought the most interesting thing that someone said to me on Sunday after I reported that Was another executive from another team who said look we? Knew by the way the Bruins acted at the deadline that they were really unhappy with their team And then he said what we we really learned how unhappy they were with their team when they chose this path. And he said

that was the purest indication of how disappointed the organization was with this season, that they would make this decision, that they simply decided this was as far as they were going to go. And no matter the the PR hit that they were going to take that they they were still gonna draw the line and I thought that was an interesting point of view look I you know like as we talk about this is business teams make hard decisions all the time, but this one was the most shocking.

Um, like I would think that if I walked in, like I've been in situations before where, um, I, in, in my job where, um, I was done at a place or thought I was done at a place and someone called me into a face to face meeting and we hammered it out. And I have never had, I think, a face to face meeting where I believe both sides wanted to get something done where we haven't found a way to work it out. But I have been in meetings before where I wanted something and someone else wanted something and you walked in there and you start talking and then you realize it's not going to happen and it is jarring.

I think everybody here listening to this can understand that feeling and you know as of what time is it now that we're doing this 5 55 eastern on sunday you know brad marshall still hasn't commented um like if you look at his instagram as we record this um he hasn't posted anything yet he hasn't done any interviews he hasn hasn't made any social media posts. You know, like that tells you everything you need to know about how he's feeling. Like this is even though he's ended up where he wanted to go, he's in shock and so are the Bruins fans. Yeah, and I think that shock's going to last for a little while in Boston,

Elliott, though they were perfect against Tampa on Saturday, as we all predicted. The new edition Bruins looking not too bad the first game after all those moves were made right up until the trade deadline. OK, the Edmonton Oilers, Elliott, they spoiled Miko Renton's debut with the Dallas Stars in the nightcap of Hockey Night in Canada. Good interview with Scott Oaken and Miko before the game also by the way. Very good. But what's it out to you about Edmonton and the way they played a Dallas team that has loaded up for another run?

Very physical. Like that's one thing Edmonton hasn't been this year I think if you would ask the people who've watched them is They they haven't thrown the body around as much as they did on Saturday night Like I wonder like I actually thought about it the next day Sunday as if the stars took some big hits because Edmonton didn't really have the reputation for doing a lot of that this year. But Wallman, Max Jones, who was really good on-

Max Jones had five hits. Yeah, Jones and Wallman were really good on After Hours too with Scott and Louis. Those were really good interviews. Max Jones had five hits and he kind of admitted when talking to Scott that he knew that you know this is the time. If he doesn't do that, we might be coming to the end here. But Wallman threw the body. We talked on Friday's pod about how we're going to find out who Jake Wallman is here. These are gonna be the most pressure-packed high intensity games that he's played in quite some time and It matters what he does now in terms of there's a team with championship Aspirations that made him one of their big deadline acquisitions

He has to deliver here and it's gonna be on a platform where more people are watching them than forever. And his initial introduction was excellent. But I just thought the others look very different and we still haven't seen Trent Frederick yet and we still haven't seen a Vander Kane yet. And we know when Frederick arrives, that's going to be a big part of his game. And we don't know what Kane's schedule is here, but when he arrives It's gonna be Kane's game too. So, you know, the other thing was obvious Kyle and I don't know how much of that game you were able to see You know the Oilers were wired for that one, you know, everyone's talking about Dallas Everyone's talking about Colorado and that Dallas power play like even though Hintz left the game and you

hope he's okay that was really scary looking but Duchenne came on it like they didn't miss a beat like the way they were whipping the puck around like good luck with that like that's that's gonna be a brutal power play they made that game a lot more interesting at the end but you know Edmonton gave up that first goal, powerplay goal, they were really snapping it around. Dallas feels good about itself. And those were like, nope, nope, we're taking over this game. That other team was really motivated to play that one. Everyone's talking about Dallas. Well, we're here too. I like that response came from Edmondson and I liked the way they looked. A couple of hits for Wallman, had an assist of

course as well and I think my line that my dad would always say to us as kids he would go, how many chances do you have to make a first impression? And he would go, one. He's right. I always said your dad was smart. Yes, it's funny as I've gotten older how much more brilliant he's become. Yeah, we all see that. Yeah, 16, 17. My father's an idiot. 40. Yeah, you know what? He was actually pretty smart. Yeah, so.

Can't wait till I get to that, till I get that day with Max. Exactly. Yes. Well, I think you're moderately intelligent. Thanks, thanks, man. I'll give you more than I'm sure your son does at this stage. So a big game for Edmonton. Vancouver, Elliott and Brock Bester. And that was another note that you had on Saturday.

We of course talked at length last pod just about how the fact that he didn't get traded, he remains in Vancouver. Of course, Alveen's comments too, but you learned a little more about what exactly Vancouver was after if they were going to deal their pending UFA. Yeah, I heard they were looking for a first rounder and we talk about how some teams they set a price and they just never go lower because they think that you're going to learn that or they're going to show weakness that if other people outweigh you, you'll drop your price.

So it does happen more than you think, but I heard they were looking for a first rounder. One of the teams I wonder about LA, LA is kind of whenever Besser's been available, LA tends to kind of be around there. But if you look at Kuzmenko, he's a right hand shot. And if you look at Besser, he's a right hand shot. They offered a third rounder for Kuzmenko. I would wonder what LA was around there with. I think if it had been a first rounder, I would bet it gets done. Mostly this is me thinking out loud and just trying to put two and two together here but I kind of wonder if LA was around there and just didn't give us high a pick that Vancouver wanted.

Like I said this I really like Besser and I think he's been a very loyal Kinnock. I hope one way or another this works out for him. Makes a lot of sense with LA trying to find a little more offense for them as they head towards hopefully a successful playoff run for them though as we talked about they might get Edmonton again in the first round here coming up so things starting to take shape in the Western Conference as well. The New York Islanders, Elliot, so it was an emotional file, the Brock Nelson one, he gets dealt to Colorado and just curious what you thought of Lou Lamarello's comments once the deadline had come and passed. I would advise everybody to watch that Scrum if you're interested.

I thought it was a really good Scrum. You know, Lamarello hasn't talked in a while and he went out and he spoke in LA. And I thought it was really interesting. He gave a lot of good answers about what he was thinking about how he wanted Brock Nelson to stay. And I thought it was also really interesting. Like he said that he told everybody involved who was interested in that race, if they were getting Brock Nelson,

they were giving up their number one prospect or who we the Islanders identify as their number one prospect. It was a good look into his and the Islanders thought process about that trade. Like he made that very clear. His number one target was not the first rounder. His number one target was who they identified as your top prospect. Good scrum, like really good information. The other thing that stuck out for that one for me was that he talked about how, like some people hate the word rebuild and it was funny, like the Islander's reporters there,

it's very obvious they know Lamarello well, like they know what words he likes and they know what words he doesn't like. And they tried to bring up the word rebuild and he's like, you're right, I hate that word. But he said a rebuild in this league takes 10 years. And it was one of the first things he said actually. And it was just, it was interesting to hear him say that like that the islanders yeah like the like the islanders have no desire obviously for that it's and again they tried to get him to use the word like retool and he's like I'm not crazy about that world word either I was kind of laughing

watching it because if you're a reporter in that scrum you're trying to get an honest answer to the question but you know, if you use one of the words doesn't like, then you're totally screwed up. It's not going to work. It's like an SNL writer trying to come up with Mick Jagger's opening monologue. I don't know if I like that word quite yet. That's a good reference. So I was kind of laughing because I'm imagining myself as a reporter in this trying to get the right answers and knowing that

If you use the wrong word, it's just not gonna work But it's obvious to me the islanders are kind of like, you know what like and Lamarilla said we have to get younger we know that and But it was just interesting like he basically said they're going to retool But you can't use the word retool because he doesn't like the word retool It's the whole thing. It's just a funny scrum, but the other thing that kind of came Out there at the end like there's been some rumors about this Varlamov injury that it is like a really serious injury

And all he said at the end was they're still kind of uncertain about it but you know hopefully it's it's it's better than the rumors are because there have been some concerns about how significant that injury is that he suffered and the other thing we should mention is I don't know if there was a team just two more quick things Kyle if there was a team that needed to win on Sunday it was the Devils who finally got one their fans were not happy with the deadline and the guy I was happiest for was Cody Glass who scored the first goal for the Devils. I heard he was really shocked at the trade. I heard he was really happy in

Pittsburgh. He was learning a lot this year from guys like Crosby and it came as a surprise to him. So it was good to see him land on his feet and get a big goal for the Devils. Glass is just an easy guy to like. Okay, well that'll get us to the final thought, which is brought to you by GMC in L.A. You teased it earlier. We were going to circle back on the Brad Marshand conversation. A different element though, from the trade to Florida. What have you got for us? So I said on Saturday night, Marchand Hall of Famer and I got some pushback. Do you think there's any doubt he's a Hall of Famer?

Like who pushed back on it? The Sidines? I'm trying to think of players that absolutely have despised them over having been guests of all those years. I don't want to name anybody because they're not here to defend themselves. No, I know. I had some people who said, I'm not so convinced as you. And I'm like, okay, Stanley Cup, World

Cup, Four Nations, World Juniors, right? I forgot about that one. World Juniors. He's going to, he's a thousand games. He's going to get to a thousand points. he's 25 away. And more than- Do you have any doubt? Do you have any doubt? I don't because I know like there's other players out there that have played 1000 games that have 1000 points that aren't in the Hall of Fame, that have won the Stanley Cup,

that aren't in the Hall of Fame. But I also look at too like just the impact, right? The impact he had on the game. I know there were times certainly that he crossed the line making impacts on the game and was reprimanded for it, but you look at for that good chunk of time, Elliot, and I'm not saying that his best years or he's out of his prime now or he's nowhere near the player that he once was, but for a good while there, and it really started probably after

playing for Canada at the World Cup of Hockey, and that's where he signed, you know signed his latest contract that's about to come to an end, coincidentally enough. But then he became a player where, I mean, how would you find a comparable? He was a guy that could be over a point a game, that could impact the game on the power play, on the penalty kill, at five on five. Just an absolute menace to play against that drove other fan bases wild part of what was called the perfection line with Patrice Bergeron and David Pasternak I think you look at the way he impacted the league for all those years in that kind of way there just wasn't a lot of other players like him there were agitators out there,

no question. There were players that could score over his years, absolutely. But to have that complete package, he's one of the rare ones. And I think that has to be factored into the conversation too. Yes, I am with you on all this. Like to me, he is a Hall of Famer. But you know, I had some people ask me about it. So I wanted to raise it here. All right. I'm sure we'll hear about whether we're smart, like you view your father later on in life or like you view them when you're a teenager. You don't know anything. I'm sure.

All right. That's good. I'm glad you brought it up. That'll be the final thought, which is brought to you by GMC. We'll take our first break and come back with the thought line. You're listening to 32 Thoughts the podcast. Okay, welcome back. Time once again for the Thought Line. 1833-311-3232 is the phone number to call if you'd like to leave a voicemail, or you can send in an email at 32thoughts at sportsnet.ca. So Elliot, you remember last pod we got the question about the rink boards for outdoor events that the NHL puts on, right? And what happens to them? Yes. So Ryan from Buffalo submits that to add to that answer, the equipment and the boards from the very first winter classic between Pittsburgh and Buffalo back in 2008, they were purchased by a group in East Aurora, New Jersey. That setup was used to build what came to be the classic rink in East Aurora. It's a small village just a few miles from what is now Highmark Stadium, the home of the Buffalo Bills. Love the pod. So at least

we know what happened with the very first set of rink boards for our first winter classic. Not the first outdoor game of course, but first winter classic. So that was cool from Ryan. Thank you for submitting that. That's really cool. Thank you for letting us know. I always like it when the Thoughtline gets us good answers. Yes, the Thoughtline follow-ups. The Thoughtline follow-ups are very big, very big. All right, anything you've got

before we get to the rest of today's batch? Yes, I do. I have one. It's from Ace. It was sent to me directly. He was looking at the Scott Lawton trade and he asked how many players picked in the first round were traded for a first round pick 10 years or more later.

And it's actually happened a lot more. So I asked Steve Fellin and it's happened a lot of times. So he narrowed the list and saying, here are players drafted in round one by their original team and then traded after 10 or more years for a first rounder. And so Scott Lawton is one of three players from the 2012 draft that that happened to. The others, Hampus Lindholm and Thomas Hurdle, the latest player drafted in terms of what year they were taken,

who was traded for a first round or 10 years later. Bo Horvat drafted in 2013, traded in 2023. Brock Nelson this year drafted 2010 traded in 2025. Other players Oliver Ekman-Larson, Eric Carlson, Claude Giroux, Martin Hansel, Travis Zajac, Ryan Kessler, Rick Nash, Ryan Smith, Sergey Gonchar, Keith Kachuk, Brian Leach, Dave Andruchuk, should have known this one, Ray Bork, and former Sabres 50 goal scorer Rick Martin. So that is your list. Excellent. Good question. Thank you Ace for reaching out to Elliot on that one. Okay. Yes. Here we go. Katie from New York.

Hi, Kyle, Dom, Elliot, Griffin, and the good people at Sportsnet Stats who continue to make Kyle and Elliot look like geniuses. Yeah, they do a lot of heavy lifting for us. And they do in this editions of the ThoughtLight as well. Okay. Katie asks, in honor of the trade deadline, I was wondering if Elliot has ever broken a trade while recording

the pod, and if so, what was the trade? Keep up the great work and let's go Rangers. Has that happened? I don't remember. I don't know if in our carnation, you've had to stop to answer a phone call. To answer your question, no. No, no. Okay.

According to Dom, that has not happened at least not in here yeah I don't remember like when Jeff co-hosted or Amal was the producer of the pod I don't remember I don't remember ever doing it so I can't say yes or no but off the top of my 400% but off the top of my head the answer is no yeah now you've had to stop recording to take phone calls plenty of times when stuff is being shared about. Yes. But actually breaking something okay a little bit different but worth the ass.

Thank you Katie for submitting that one in. Alright a voicemail next Roy from Whitby. I just wanted to give a big shout out to Elliot. Yes Elliot I know it's fun and a joke I've got to give him credit where credit's due, as he's probably averaged three hours. Anyways, my question is, Elliott always seems to get the posts on trades or tractions or conditions first before anyone else. And usually it's before it's been finalized by the league.

And because of this traction, sometimes you see people comment, oh, fleecing, or something went wrong. My question is, has any GM president or anyone in the front office seen such a bad reply or seen such a bad uproar that caused them to nix the trade before it's officially sent to the league? Anyways, thanks, guys. Well, Roy, first of all, I have to say, Kyle,

that is one of my favorite things about social media is whenever you post a trade and people start yelling, please, like I don't know why, but that makes me laugh all the time. Always has to be an immediate winner and loser. Yeah, but like, no, but people clearly just do it just to do it. And then like one, like, let's just say, like, let's just say it's like the leaves Bruins trade, right? There'll be like 20 people leaves fleece and there'll be 20 more people Bruins fleece and you can tell they don't even believe it.

They just want to put the reply out there. Maybe I'm just five years old. I don't know why, but that always makes me laugh. I just think the whole thing is funny. Oftentimes, Roy, I would say if it gets to that point, nobody's backing out on it. Look, I've told this story before. There was one situation where years and years and years ago, where a team was thinking about something and they floated it out there, I think, through me. And the only thing I just said was is it real and

and the person said yeah it's real and it didn't happen and I think it was a trial balloon so I do believe that happens periodically you know now with 2020 hindsight and I'm a little bit older I wasn't crazy about it but it's it's not like it was a lie. But sometimes I do think people throw out trial balloons to see what the reaction might be. I do think it happens from time to time. All right, Craig from Lethbridge.

Hi fellas, when a third team gets involved in a trade just to retain salary, like Detroit retaining 25% of Gord's salary for Tampa Does Detroit actually pay the money or does Tampa pay it and it's just on Detroit's books? No, the team has to pay whoever's retaining the salary has to pay that that's that's part of the deal You have to pay it. It's on your books All right. Brett from Long Island, New York. Hello, Elliot, Kyle, and Dom.

Can teams discuss potential trades with pending UFAs while also expressing interest in re-signing them in the off season? For example, could the Islanders tell Brock Nelson, we're going to trade you at the deadline to acquire a prospect and a first round pick, but we'd like to bring you back in the off seasonseason or the Bruins say the same to Brad Marchand. Is there anything in the CBA that prohibits teams from informing players of their intent to resign them or from having an informal

agreement on a future contract before July 1st once they officially become free agents? Love the pod and keep up the great work. The answer is you can't have something written that says you're coming back on July 1st. You can't do that. But you are free to communicate that you want somebody back. You are more than free to say come back here or we'll make a deal with you. Like it doesn't happen very often. It happened with Keith Kachuk. He was traded from St. Louis to Atlanta and then

Kachuk went back to St. Louis after he was done with his contract, but it doesn't happen in a lot of cases. Like it's pretty clear with the Bruins and Marchand if Marchand wanted to come back especially as an ambassador or something like that, the Bruins would do it, no doubt. I think it was, I saw a quote, I think it was Ty Anderson who covers the Bruins who had a quote from Sweeney saying, I guess they asked him about something like that. And Sweeney's quote was something along the lines of Brad is going to have to decide how he feels about this, which tells you everything that you need to know. That Marshand is obviously upset about the whole thing, but it happens all the time. Those conversations are held.

If you leave, we would love to welcome you back or we'll talk to you about coming back. And maybe there are handshake deals here or there here and there. But if you look at the history, it doesn't happen very often. All right, Jordan from beautiful Girdwood, Alaska says I'm a huge fan of the show and look forward to each new episode to enjoy on my commute along the Alaskan coastline. Very nice. This past weekend during the Boston Pittsburgh game, the Bruins scored on their first shot and I was absolutely shocked when reading the game recap and saw that the Penguins had given up a goal on their first shot

against 13 times this season. That number seems super high for one team and I had to reread it several times to make sure that's what it said. Are the Penguins on pace to break the single season record for that stat? They gotta be. Can the team please look into that stat? Thank you for all you guys do and keep up the great work. So this is a tricky one, Elliot, as you can imagine, sifting through the search filters in finding times that a team gives up a goal on the first shot. So the good people at Sportsnet stats were able to track back to the 13-14 season. So certainly not getting the whole scope of the history

of the NHL, but at least gives you some sort of idea of where the penguins stack up compared to how often this really happens. Okay. So 13 times they have done it. And right now that's tied for the most in that span, the 1718 Edmonton Oilers also gave up the first shot goal 13 times. Montreal Canadians two years ago did it 12. But the NHL stats has told our group that since 97-98, the most in a single season is Colorado 16 times they gave up a goal on their first shot against. Do you have a guess of what year that was?

Oh God, no, what year? 2000, 2001. They won the Stanley Cup that year. That's unbelievable. And they had a pension for giving up goals on the first shot. And that would have been Patrick Wa. And maybe they just needed to be woken up. Uh-oh.

You scored enough. Now we're ready to play. That's right. That was probably, yeah, it could have been Strategy by by wah back in the day if you got the sense he didn't like pregame warm-up from his group He's like, I don't know if our guys are ready to play. So he lets the first shot in just to get their attention I remember once I interviewed Jack Morris about the

92 blue Jays and he would say we never even showed up until the seventh inning. We were like, have whatever lead you had, we'll figure out a way. I love that. I thought that was awesome. That is great. That was, I mean, you kind of felt that way about the 2015 team too, eh? Like just with their offensive firepower, you never felt like they were out of a game. Those were the days.

All right. One final one here, Elliot. Those were the days. All right, one final one here, Elliot. JR from Rally. He says, hey Kyle and the refrigerator. Oh God. Have you ever had that one before? No, that's a new one. All right. That's like the Shermanator. Yes, exactly. Just hopefully you've got control over yourself a little better than he does when he gets nervous. Yes I hope so too, yes. Okay JR says internet consensus seems to say that Jack Roslavik is the real winner of the trade deadline. I saw that yes. Earning a Rolex and other undisclosed bribes in exchange

for the number 96 13 games later he gets to switch right back to 96 and he was wearing it on Sunday against Winnipeg. My question, has a player ever switched numbers more than once, twice, three times in a single season? Wow. This one kind of blew me away here. All right. Has it happened?

Yes. of blew me away here, all right? Is it, has it happened? Yes, there was, I don't know what was going on in the 1930s. Oh God. I mean, globally there was a lot going on, but the record, they have a guess of the record, the amount of different numbers used by a player. It's got, it's got to be huge now. Like, it's got to be something I've never even considered. Yeah. Yeah, you would be right in thinking that what is it? Eight eight Hall of Famer, Busher Jackson with the maple leaves wore eight different sweater numbers in the 1930 31 season.

If I'm reading it right here, he wore numbers four, five, seven, nine, ten, What? eleven, twelve, sixteen. What is that? That's what I thought. Eight times. And there's like a bunch of players during that era. Andy Blair were seven different numbers that same season. You know what? I'm exhausted today. I do not have time to look. I do not have the willpower to look into this but I am hoping someone's listens to this and submits the reason why King Clancy six different numbers Leo Bovin in the 50s

six different numbers the majority of these instances are with Toronto. Something was going on there. And we got to get to the bottom of this. There's got to be a hockey historian out there who knows. Yeah. Can't believe that eight different sweaters used. Bushir Jackson, I think as time went on, he was more known for wearing number 16. I think as time went on he was more known for wearing number 16, but I Could not believe it when we got that back from

the good people at sports net stats I Wasn't gonna make you try to guess the names this record would never end. I'm still blown away someone wore eight numbers in a year All right, that's it for the thought line this episode for each. Thank you to Griffin Porter for putting them together once again and to all of you for submitting. It's been a lot of fun all year getting a chance to answer your questions and tapped into the mind of our listeners here. So we'll take one final break and wrap this thing up. 32 Thoughts the Podcast continues after this. All right, we're back. Elliot, before we go, wanted to send our best to goaltender Connor Ingram of the Utah Hockey Club who's announced on Sunday that he has entered the player assistance program

once again. Yeah Connor Ingram sent out a note if you remember in the past he's been very open and honest about his challenges with OCD and earlier on Sunday as you mentioned it was announced that he was going back into the player assistance program and he had talked this year, his mother had passed away of breast cancer and he had talked about how difficult that was for him as I think anybody would understand. And he sent out a note that he needed to put his health first and that he's going to come back at 100%. So we all wish Connor the best. Anybody who's ever lost a parent or

anyone close to them completely understands where he's coming from. And hopefully we see him back in a better place and soon. So that was News Worth keeping an eye on on Sunday and hearts go out to him there for sure and wish him all the best absolutely and other thing on Sunday Elliot, Alex Ovechkin another empty netter bringing him one more closer to Alex Ovechkin. By the way, I was wild going through the flashback of when David Amber first brought this whole idea up back in October of 2016 and his projections and kind of guesses where he could potentially be.

And he was effectively on that day where he said after this many 50-goal seasons, this many 40, this many 30, it would bring him to 885, which is exactly where he was until Sunday now. 886, 8 away from tying Wayne Gretzky, 9 from taking the record. Pretty incredible. Never, again I'll say it again, never thought we'd see this day and to be honest I didn't think we'd see it this year. I thought it would be next season. We may get there. We may get there. We may get there. The Vincent Trotcek line. What did you put in your leg?

See that the mic's up? By the way, I also, I should tell you, don't mean to alarm you, but our Sportsnet stats people have updated it. Right now he's on pace to break the record. April 6th. It's a road game at the Islanders. Remember before it was the fourth at home against Chicago, now it's your place to do it on the road. I have to tell you this, I don't know if there's any right place to do it, but the islanders considering all his battles against them over the years,

it kind of fits. Yeah, short distance for Caps fans to travel to be part of it. And arrival. And arrival. All right, well, let's see. Let's watch and see here because man, we're getting down to the wire. Speaking of watching and seeing, some things to keep an eye on this week on the network. Scotia Bank Wednesday night hockey. We are out west in Calgary. The Vancouver Canucks are in town to visit the Flames.

Big game, another big one for those two teams as they continue to try to track down a playoff spot. We're on the air at 8.30 Eastern, 6.30 Mountain Time. And then the game of the top of the clock, 7 o'clock local in Alberta, David Amber and company will have you covered there. All right. Big weekend, big trade deadline. Chance to take a little bit of an exhale. Hope you all have a great week.

There's only so many hours in a day, and we appreciate you once again spending a few of them here with us. We'll talk to you again on Friday.